Press Releases

Five years after Michigan agreed to reform its child welfare system, the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) is still struggling in its most critical mandate –to keep kids safe from abuse and neglect, according to a report released today by the federal monitors charged with tracking the reform.

(New York, NY) —- A new report by the court-appointed monitor shows that the Mississippi Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) is struggling to ensure the basic safety of abused and neglected children in state care — despite a modified settlement agreement filed six months ago addressing the state’s consistent failure to improve system-wide. The reform efforts were spurred by Children’s Rights when the national advocacy group filed a class action suit against the state in 2004.

(Boston, MA) — U.S. District Judge William Young has determined that the trial for a federal class action lawsuit seeking to reform Massachusetts’ deeply-troubled child welfare system will begin on Tuesday, January 22, 2013.

(Newark, NJ) — Today an independent federal court monitor released a progress report (PDF) on New Jersey’s child welfare reform effort, a campaign spurred by national advocacy group Children’s Rights. In response to the report, which covers the first half of 2012, Children’s Rights Executive Director Marcia Robinson Lowry released this statement.

(New York, NY) — Today federal court monitors released a report (PDF) tracking metropolitan Atlanta’s progress in reforming the child welfare system of DeKalb and Fulton Counties, an effort spurred by national advocacy group Children’s Rights known as the Kenny A. lawsuit.

Solid improvement needed as investigative workers exceed caseload limits & data problems linger (Washington, DC) — A report released today says new leadership at the Children and Family Services Agency (CFSA) is moving the District of Columbia’s long-struggling child welfare agency toward the path of reform.

(Boston, MA) — The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) lacks an oversight system and qualified staff to ensure that foster children are safely and appropriately administered psychiatric prescriptions, according to an expert report released today by attorneys for Children’s Rights, who represent foster children in a lawsuit against the state.

Today state reviewers issued a report tracking the continued progress of The Wisconsin Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW) in reforming its child welfare system — an effort launched by national advocacy group Children’s Rights.